MARGARET SUTHERLAND(1897-1984) The chamber music with stringsViolin Sonata (1925) [27.06]Nocturne for violin and piano (1945?) [3.21]Contrasts for two violins (1953-4) [13.27]Six Bagatelles for violin and viola (1958) [11.03]Divertimento for string trio (1958) [13.12]The World and the Child for voice and string trio (1959)
10.29 Marina Marsden (violin) all
works
Christopher Latham (violin) Contrasts
Justine Wickham (viola) Bagatelles and Divertimento
Robert Chamberlain (piano) sonata
Elizabeth Campbell (mezzo) The World and the Child
rec March-May 1997 SydneyTALL POPPIES TP116 [79.12]Amazon
US

Sutherland contributed in sparse numbers but in richness of individuality
to the output of twentieth century Australian composers. In her economically
expressed music she is by no means the Bax disciple her tutelage with that
composer might lead you to expect.

In David Symons' extensive notes (expansive supporting text being a delightful
feature of Tall Poppies CDs) her role is contrasted with that of her countrywoman
Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Sutherland accommodated her creativity within the
orthodoxy of wife and mother while Glanville-Hicks travelled widely rejecting
any bearing her gender might have had on her music.

The sonata, though admired by Bax, is no Baxian epic. Rather it is rhapsodic
in a fairly 'advanced' idiom. Sutherland drops her guard at times including
at 5.38 in the middle movement. Otherwise think in terms of Bloch and Szymanowski
given a bitter harmonic twist. The caprice of the work also lifts us towards
Cyril Scott and Sorabji.

The Nocturne joins the worlds of the sentimental song and of central
European folksong. This might easily have been a chip from Szymanowski's
Mythes though more straightforward harmonically speaking. A charmer.

The remaining tracks abandon the piano. Without undue dryness the content
dips towards the didactic. The emotional core is staid though excitement
colours the gay finale of Contrasts, a work in which playing of technical
mastery incorporates a real sense of dynamic gradation. Swapping one of the
pair of violins for a viola we come to the similar Bagatelles. Here,
however, a more emotional element is allowed to surface. The elegance and
folk feel of the music suggests a Hungarian connection. The Divertimento
continues on similar tracks. Its rewards are there but are in economy
of expression rather than luxury.

A shame that the words of The World and the Child (by Judith Wright)
are not included. These take as their theme the wonder of a child's intuitive
learning and the loss of innocence implicit in the process of learning.
Stylistically Sutherland veers into Britten territory although she allows
herself slightly more emotional pith. I was also reminded of Arnold Cooke
and of William Alwyn in his more austere moments. Masterfully, Sutherland
breathes softly over the words 'nets have been breached and men have died
in vain'. Magically done. I now want to hear her other songs including The
Orange Tree and The gentle water bird.